Overview
- Mary escaped her quarantine enclosure at Paradise Country on June 2 after CCTV showed her make an unusually large leap over a 1.4‑metre boundary fence.
- Park keepers, sniffer dogs, thermal drones, trail cameras and baited humane traps were used in a coordinated search that lasted more than two weeks.
- Searchers found Mary on Tuesday night in bushland off Kopps Road, less than two kilometres from the park, and rushed her to a specialist veterinary hospital where she was stabilised and kept for further diagnostic tests.
- Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries inspected the site and said the enclosures met legislated requirements while the park confirmed Mary had been held in quarantine alongside a second young devil before her escape.
- Tasmanian devils are an endangered species no longer found on the Australian mainland and face threats such as Devil Facial Tumour Disease, a context that makes this episode likely to prompt closer review of mainland quarantine and translocation practices.